Real estate development doesn't happen overnight. Even the simplest project can take years to come to fruition. And as a project becomes more complicated, the timeline tends to stretch out. Still, the speed at which the medium-sized project at 11th & Mount Vernon has progressed has come as a bit of a surprise to us.
In October of 2011, we first told you that the a developer had a deal in place to purchase the Ruffin Nichols Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church and school. At the time, we were hopeful for an adaptive reuse project here. But it wasn't to be. Demolition of the church took over a year, pausing intermittently for months, until it finally wrapped up in November. By February, it seemed as though the project was finally beginning to hit its stride, with a few foundations in the ground. At that point, we finally learned that the lovely church would be replaced by four single-family homes and seven duplexes.
When we passed by the other day, we saw some encouraging progress at the site. The two homes on Mount Vernon and the two duplexes at the corner of 11th & Mount Vernon are moving along well. The project, according to a sign on the site, is now being called Spring Arts Square and is being promoted as a gated community. Okay then. The homes are listed at a price of $459K, and the condos start at $339K.
After all the stops and starts, it all comes down to these two hearts we kind of expected that the construction schedule would be a little more aggressive and include more units in this first phase. But perhaps the developers are taking their time at this point, trying to gauge the market and see what kind of demand exists at these price points. If they find a bunch of buyers quickly, it stands to reason that the second phase of the project will get moving posthaste.